Growing our youth council

This year Kirklees Youth Council is 10 years old. Our youth council helps young citizens in Kirklees to learn about local democracy, to gain skills and confidence, to become active citizens, and to have a voice. The young people participating in Kirklees Youth Council have been a key part of our work to understand how we can grow a stronger local democracy. We want to celebrate the fantastic achievements of our youth councillors so far, and we want to involve more young people in planning for the future.

So this year we are taking some time to reflect on the experiences of our past and current youth councillors, and we are asking lots of people to share their ideas for how we can grow an even stronger youth council over the next ten years. We hope that you will be part of it.

How to get involved

For young people:

If you’re aged 11 to 18 and live anywhere in Kirklees, please take part in our quick survey to tell us what you think. There are just a few questions (so it will take you about 5 minutes). Your answers will really help us to understand how we can support young people who live here.

For everyone:

Our youth councillors hosted a special 10th Anniversary event at John Smith’s Stadium on 19th October 2018. Previous youth councillors shared their experiences and we all shared ideas for the future. Have a look at our videos, webcast and tweets from the evening to learn more about our youth council:

For teachers and school staff:

We can offer you a concise information pack to help guide you through a group discussion at school. Your session could include filling in the survey with your class, talking through some of the issues in a bit more detail, and filling in a simple evidence sheet to help us learn more.

For local organisations:

We are keen to hear from organisations who might like to develop a stronger relationship with our youth council in the future (including community groups, youth organisations and parish or town councils). We may be able to visit local groups. Please get in touch to find out more.

For Kirklees Councillors:

Our young participants are keen to get together with ward councillors to share ideas, so we will be in touch with an invitation. We will also be contacting the leaders of all our local political groups on Kirklees Council to ask for a formal response about how you see the future of our youth council.

For our former Kirklees Youth Councillors:

It’s really important that we hear your stories. We’d really like your help to tell people about what impact being part of Kirklees Youth Council can have. If you’re willing to share some of your experiences, please get in touch.

For our current Kirklees Youth Councillors:

If you’d like to get more involved in this project, we can share some resources with you to help you gather feedback from other young people and from local groups. Thank you very much if you’re already taking part.